Summer Vacation - 2007 - 5

The next morning we boarded a ferry boat to take us to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty.

We decided to bypass Elis Island. The buildings were much more ornate than we had imagined. What a beautiful site it must have been for those arriving immigrants who were longing for a better life in America!

This was our first glimpse of Lady Liberty from the ferry.
As we toured the musem in her pedestal, we were amazed at the ingenuity and imagination that created such a giant statue. The point, however, wasn't to simply impress with her size, but to capture the grand idea of Liberty!

150+ steps later we arrived on the observation deck with a great view of Manhattan and the location where the Twin Towers once stood. No one is allowed any higher than this point because of security reasons.

From the observation deck she really was impressive as she loomed large over the island. In the musem we learned that the chief architect wanted her torch to shine as a beacon of liberty for all to came to the doors of this country. What a wonderful gift from the French to the United States.

A final shot of Lady Liberty...

And 0ne goofy self-portrait....

Summer Vacation - 2007 - 4

We went to the north side of the Island to Sunken Meadow State Park over looking the Sound. The water was beatiful and the beach was mostly empty. The kids found some nice Sea Glass on the beach.

It's hard to go wrong with a picture on the beach. Here we have Uncle Todd and cousin Maya looking for Sea Glass.

Caleb had a good evening rescuing snails who had been stranded by the receding tide. Perhaps we have a marine biologist in the making!

Summer Vacation - 2007 - 3

After a couple of good days in the van, we finally arrived on Long Island in New York where cousins Makayla and Maya live!! Here the gang is at the beach on Fire Island. It should be warm by now, but it was cooooold and windy.

We also had a lot of fun on the playground regardless of the temps!

"Uncle Bud" had a little problem with the slide!

Auntie Chris was our expert kite flyer, with a little back up from Maya.

It was a good morning at the beach!

Summer Vacation - 2007 - 2

Next we ventured East to Elyria, OH which is just outside of Cleveland. Jeff's aunt Liz and uncle Art were our hosts and made us this great "Welcome" sign!

We got to see Jeff's cousin Kathy and her two grown up kids - Lindsey and Corey. They live just down the road in Elyria as well. We also got to meet Kathy's friend Jeff who has a really cool Harley Davidson!! Go Kathy!

Jeff got a chance to go to the Penfield Cemetery where his grampa "Bimpie" and gramma Ruby Bell are buried.

Rigth next to their graves, Jeff's uncle Bob is also buried. His headstone has a grand piano on it.

One more stop to pay respects was at Jeff's step grandfather, Percy Nead. He married Ruby when Jeff was a young guy, and was the only grandpa that Jeff knew. Percy was a WWI veteran, and was a relative of General Pershing.

Summer Vacation - 2007 - 1

Noah, Caleb and BethAnn got to spend 3 days with Aunt Jen, Uncle Earl, Craig and Erica. The gang got to go to a children's musem with lots of fun, hands-on exhibits.

Here Dad got a little time with Craig's PSP. It is quickly addicting!! Noah got a GameBoy for his birthday and Craig hooked him up with some great gear. He especially loves the head phones.

Aunt Jen took the guys and BethAnn to a waterski club demonstration. BethAnn thought she could ski like them, well kind of.